Hollywood welcomes inaugural enforcement plan to protect IP theft

Motion Picture Association of America president and interim CEO Bob Pisano said, “This plan is an important step forward in combating intellectual property theft and protecting the millions of jobs and businesses that rely so heavily on copyrights, patents and trademarks and help drive the American economy.”

In welcoming the new IP enforcement plan, the Walt Disney Company said, “We commend the Administration for the first-ever Joint Strategic Plan for IP enforcement. We are pleased with the commitment demonstrated to meaningful and effective enforcement of the intellectual property laws that drive creativity and innovation in this country, and we look forward to working with the IP Enforcement Coordinator as she leads the effort to coordinate implementation across the Administration of what we hope will be the first step in a long-term strategy to protect jobs and encourage continued creativity. We want to thank the IP Enforcement Coordinator for her efforts, as well as Vice President Biden for his leadership in this area.

“More than 2.4 million people work in the motion picture and television industry alone, in states all across the nation, earning over $41 billion in wages. These are creative, good-paying jobs — including costume designers, truck drivers, stage crews, actors, architects, directors and accountants, who face a relentless challenge to their livelihoods from intellectual property theft,” Pisano added.

“As the industry moves to provide new and innovative ways to deliver creative content to consumers, particularly over the Internet, it is especially critical that the United States has an effective framework for protecting creative content online and enforcing intellectual property rights in the digital environment. Congress recognized this in 2008 when it passed the PRO-IP Act, which sought to address weaknesses in the federal government‟s intellectual property enforcement efforts. The legislation created the office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) and charged this new office with creating the strategic intellectual property enforcement plan. We look forward to reviewing the report in detail and working with all interested parties to implement recommendations that will strengthen protections for creativity and jobs,” Pisano said.